


That...

by CaptainErica



Category: Big Bang (Band), K-pop
Genre: M/M, based on that xx, double dragon, i'm not sorry watch that video and tell me you can't see this, this is a GD/Jiyong fic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-07-30
Updated: 2017-07-30
Packaged: 2018-12-08 23:55:52
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,005
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11657337
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CaptainErica/pseuds/CaptainErica
Summary: He's not right for her, he's not a good person, he's cheating on her he's....But that's not really what Jiyong is upset about, is it?





	That...

Jiyong was obsessed.

He’d freely admit it, but he didn’t think it was a problem. He needed to help his little sister, help this girl who’d been a close family friend for as long as he could remember. He couldn’t let her be taken in by this… this smooth talking… this _monster_ of a man pretending to favor her for the moment. He’d tried to protect her from him when she’d first shown interest in him, when she’d first told them all how they were together…

But no one _dated_ the Dragon.

Youngbae had tried to get him to stop, had tried to get him to see reason, had tried to get him to stop listening to the whispers and the articles, the little hints that the Dragon was being less than faithful to who they believed his most recent girlfriend was… And it hurt, so much, because he’d tried to warn her, tried to… It was his fault, he’d shown her the articles, shown her the fashion blogs, the art shows that he’d been working his way to getting into… All things that the Dragon had a hand in, all things that had drawn Jiyong into looking up to him at first but now…

He’d felt…

Jiyong had felt betrayed. His idol, someone who he had looked up to as someone he wanted to be like, someone he wanted to meet and befriend even… but the Dragon wasn’t someone you just _met._ The Dragon was high society, he had fought his way to the top and he was _nasty_ , everyone knew that and…

And Jiyong needed to stop skulking. He needed to stop following her around and checking up on her. He needed to stop being so _worried_ about how the Dragon would break her heart because… because it wasn’t his place. Youngbae was right, Seunghyun was even more right, but then, Seunghyun knew one of the many CEOs that the Dragon hung around with, knew a little more about him (knew for a fact that the Dragon wasn’t interested in _Jennifer_ ). Jiyong might _know_ that the Dragon wasn’t _faithful_ or wasn’t _into her_. But the Dragon played it up like he was when he could. Took her to nice dinners, bought her things, whispered sweet words in her ear.

Jiyong had seen them together, at a society party, at an event, at an opening. She was arm candy, Jiyong knew this, could see it in the way the Dragon would whisper to her, smirking, eyes elsewhere. Recently, recently the Dragon’s eyes had found _him_ when he was doing this, and then, it would seem, he would make a show of it for him; pull her out onto the dancefloor, surprise her with something. It was almost like the Dragon _knew…_

So he had to stop. He had to pull back. The Dragon knew he was paying attention and not only could this hurt his burgeoning career (he’s been doing so well, so many new clients, so many new showings). It hurt, really, because he looked up to the Dragon so much, had been such a fan…

“If you stare at it hard enough it will not, in fact, burst into flame.” Youngbae says, and Jiyong groans, dropping his head to the table, which makes Youngbae laugh, a little quiet, a little polite. “Come on, it’s not that bad.”

“They’re in the VIP section.” He says, refusing to look up. “Behind me.” He adds, and Youngbae’s eyes obediently turn that way.

“Well, Jennifer isn’t there, if that’s what you’re worried about.” He says, and Jiyong pulls in a breath, lets it out slowly, because really it _isn’t_ what he's worried about, hardly ever was, really.

It was a whole amalgamation of things, of reasons, of dumb things that made it hurt knowing that it was her, a girl he’d known as a child. A family friend until they’d moved away, really, he’d seen her recently, only just a few months before she’d fallen into the Dragon’s circle, shown her around the city, shown her some of the things he was into… He’d brought her to the two parties that had made her _relationship_ with the Dragon possible. It was _his fault_ if her heart was broken and…

“Honestly, though, Jiyong,” Youngbae starts, and Jiyong pulls his thoughts back together to focus on what Youngbae is saying. “I don’t think that’s what has you so tied up in knots about this whole thing.”

Jiyong frowns, knows Youngbae’s right, hates it just a little when Youngbae can read him like this, know him so completely, and he looks down again. He’s in a suit tonight, had come from an event where his publicist had begged him not to look like a mess (his normal state). He’d chosen the gray because it reflected his mood, and because it set off the yellowy hue to his dyed hair; in other words it was horrendous, but he’d gotten compliments on the outfit, on how put together he looked for a modern artist like he was. He felt choked and confined, though. It was a feeling he’d had ever since Jennifer had first been shown to be _dating_ the Dragon and at first…

“I don’t think you’re upset that she’s _with_ him.” Youngbae continues, and Jiyong pulls in a difficult breath, tries to collect himself, tries not to let Youngbae’s sense ruin the walls he’s got built up. “I think you’re upset that _he’s_ with her.” And that was close, but Jiyong knows it’s not quite on the mark, can feel things shifting in his brain and letting out _some_ of the pressure but it’s still there, still burning at the edges of his understanding of what this situation is, what it means.

“Just, just get me another drink.” He says, and Youngbae looks at him for a second before nodding.

He did well that night, he thinks as he stumbles out to the curb to get a cab, Youngbae waving to him after he says he’ll take the next one. He hadn’t even looked at the VIP section after he’d noticed it, had let Youngbae distract him. It felt good, he felt good, felt just a little bit less…

“You need a cab or…?” And Jiyong shakes himself out of his reverie, nods politely and gets in, telling the driver where he wants to go. He doesn’t notice the group behind him, who’ve just exited the building, doesn’t notice the way a heavily ringed hand slicks back yellow-blonde hair before pulling a toothpick from between straight, white teeth. Jiyong doesn’t notice that the Dragon was watching _him_ as he left the high class bar he’d allowed Youngbae to talk him into going to.

It’s on the news a few days later that the Dragon is single again. Jiyong considers calling Jennifer but then… but then he doesn’t think she would appreciate it. She might be hurting, she’d seemed so pleased, so happy and flattered whenever the Dragon had paid her special attention and… And Jiyong hated being right (but he was thrilled, too, a deep part of him was thrilled that they weren’t together any longer).

Seunghyun calls him and asks if he's going to comfort her, get in on that action, and Jiyong is disgusted by the thought. He _is_ disgusted by it, has never felt anything but brotherly affection for her, and Seunghyun doesn’t ask again, seems to realize something during that conversation that Jiyong kind of wishes that he could realize, too, whatever it was.

Jiyong is at a gallery opening, he’s headlining, has to look presentable but he’s still feeling stuffy; like he’s caged in by something. There have been no headlines about the Dragon’s love life in about two weeks, nothing since Jennifer (nameless, almost faceless in the articles), but now it seemed like any news of the major celebrity had him feeling some weird, mixed up emotion. _And at night, when he would go to sleep, he could see it, the smirk against perfectly tanned skin, the ringed fingers leading to heavily-tattooed hands, then arms, reaching up to brush back a lock of hair, to roll up a sleeve._

He’s in gray slacks and a blue button-up, trying for casual but dressy while still feeling like he’s being choked by something he can’t identify, some feeling that has him captive. He’s alone, his publicist on the other side of the room, not hovering at his elbow like usual, and he’s got a flute of something bubbly in his hand that he’s sipping with very little attentiveness. It’s hot in the gallery, and he wants to finish with the pictures and the press and be allowed to leave so he can change into something else, so he can go and soak in his tub for an hour and forget everything…

“Sir.” A man says, trying to get his attention, and he turns to look and it’s a man that he recognizes but he can’t quite place from where.

“Sorry, I missed what you were saying.” He says, the picture of polite grace, as if he hadn’t just been brooding. He’s delicate, hand holding out the flute as he leans in to hear what the man is saying.

“My boss has asked me to get a picture of you with your newest piece.” He says, and Jiyong considers for a second before leaning back upright again and nodding, a small smile on his face; polite and distant.

He brings the flute to his lips, “of course, please.” He says, before taking a sip and then following the man to one of the other rooms where his newest, and second largest, piece resides. It’s burgundy and gold, with streaks of jarring white and accents of yellow, and as he looks at it now as the man backs up, he’s reminded rather forcefully of when he’d started it; a photo sent to his phone, a glimpse of _him_ with _her_ , the outfit that had inspired the colors despite him desperately not wanting to paint _him._

Jiyong turns toward the man, a smile blooming on his lips, small and mysterious, as he waits for the picture to be taken. He bows politely afterward, smiling gently as the man thanks him, and he watches him leave before returning his eyes to the crowd and—

The man worked for the Dragon. _He worked for the Dragon._

That was where he had seen him before, he can remember it now; the man walking along beside the Dragon when he was out. But that would mean… Why would the Dragon want a picture of _him?_

When Jiyong is told, at the end of the night while in front of the last of the press, that his newest painting had gone for a record amount of money only minutes earlier, the look of pleased surprised on his face is photographed from every angle. The way his eyes drag over the group and magnetically land on a group in the back, the Dragon at the center (he’s wearing what looks like a fuzzy pink sweater and the softness of it jars with the visible tattoos on his hands, with the carefully coiffed and newly bleached blond of his hair), all photographed, though no one else turns to see what he’s looking at; his gaze pulls back too quickly. He blinks, looks back at the group of reporters with an indrawn breath, and smiles, saying how pleased he is, how utterly surprised and how thankful he is… but the Dragon had clearly bought it. _Why had he wanted a picture of him in front of it?_

About three years previously, when Jiyong had really started to establish himself in the art world, really get into it, Youngbae had made a comment that always remained in the back of his mind. It had been dumb, really, just a joking jab from Youngbae, like so many others that passed between them, but he couldn’t let it go: _You know, you look like the Dragon, or he looks like you, it’s uncanny._

But that's not true, really, because Jiyong was smaller, weaker than the Dragon, far less muscular, definitely not as athletic or capable… They _did_ have similar faces, if one were to really split hairs about the issue, and Youngbae had joked with him, asking if he had a secret twin (he didn’t, he’d checked afterward). The joke had hit him in the wrong spot, and thinking on it now as he finishes the press conference and is ushered off the little stage and allowed to leave, his hand finds his chest and he rubs it a little, absent.

He’d been offended by that, just a little, and not because the Dragon wasn’t attractive but because it put a screen between he and the Dragon. He didn’t want to be compared to him in _looks_ because…

“I thought you were done looking.” A voice says from beside him, and Jiyong starts just a little, almost imperceptible. He knows that voice, though, knows, and he closes his eyes and wills himself to be calm (you’ve never met him before, never spoken to him, only watched him; your _idol_ ).

“I’m sorry?” He says after an almost too long moment, turning to look at the Dragon very slowly.

The Dragon smirks, a hand coming up to brush a thumb over the corner of his lips before he speaks (like he wants Jiyong to look there). “It’s been three weeks.” He says, very simple, matter of fact, like he’s talking about the weather and not Jiyong’s personal shame. “You haven’t been following me, looking at me...” he trails off here, and the smirk is still there, and Jiyong’s stomach drops.

He knew. He’d known he was looking, and probably for the whole time… “I, I’m sorry, I don’t…” But the Dragon just shakes his head, eyes calculating but not entirely unkind (there’s cruelty there, but Jiyong’s not exactly sure where it is used).

“I thought it was for her, at first, you know?” He says, voice calm, collected, just as suave as Jiyong had expected it to be; an edge of flirtiness there, seduction, like his voice was made to undo you and he doesn’t even try to curtail it. “And I think that you did as well, or…” and the Dragon pauses here, head tilting just a little bit, eyes going bright with understanding and amusement. “Ah, or you still do.” He murmurs, shaking his head just a little. “But I figured it out, you know, I know your secret and…” and his lips curl up into a devastatingly handsome and slightly feral grin. “Well, this is going to be fun.” He says, and Jiyong is just watching him, can’t take his eyes off him, can’t convince himself to look away (never could).

“Oh.” He says, inarticulate, stupid, but the Dragon doesn’t notice, eyes dragging down over Jiyong’s face like he’s memorizing it.

“I’ll be in touch.” He says. Then with a slight nod of his head, fingers touching his forehead in a gesture just delicately enough to catch Jiyong’s attention, the Dragon turns and walks back toward the gallery, one hand in the pocket of his immaculate dress pants.

Jiyong watches him go, eyes transfixed, and he fumbles with his phone as he gets into the first cab he can find and heads for home. He tells Youngbae about the interaction, and there’s silence on the other end for a moment, before Youngbae lets out a soft breath.

“Well, he’s not wrong.” Youngbae says after a moment’s hesitation, and that _doesn’t help_ because in what _way_ was the Dragon not wrong? “In every way, Ji.” Youngbae says softly, placating. “you were never upset that she was dating, you were upset that it was _him._ ” He says, and Jiyong immediately protests, leaving the cab now, heading up to his apartment.

“Of course it wasn’t about her _dating_.” He snaps, and Youngbae, forever patient, probably rolls his eyes.

“No, it was because it was the Dragon, your _idol_ , someone you were a fan of someone you—“ Youngbae doesn’t finish that sentence, cuts himself off with a frustrated sigh, but Jiyong thinks he knows what Youngbae was going to say and a well of discomfort slowly starts to rise inside him. “Be careful, Ji, it sounds like you’re going to get something you’ve wanted for a long time, whether you knew it or not.”

“That doesn’t make _sense_.” Jiyong groans, but Youngbae doesn’t elaborate, and they get off the phone soon after so that Jiyong can go to bed, can _process_.

The Dragon posts a picture on Instagram the next morning, and Jiyong’s only aware of it (he rarely uses Instagram, had pulled back from it when he’d started to obsess…) because he’s been tagged in it. He pulls it open and sees himself. It’s the photo from in front of his painting, the one that the Dragon clearly purchased but… but it’s not the one he had neatly posed for. It’s of the moment before he’d turned around, champagne flute held daintily in one hand as he looked up at the painting behind him. The caption is mostly hashtags, but the main part, the actual caption, is ‘a true work of art’, and Jiyong feels himself flushing like maybe it’s less about the painting and more about…

He likes the photo an hour later after he’s calmed down and had two glasses of water and a cold bath to straighten himself out. He doesn’t look at it again, but the caption stays with him for a few days, haunting him as he paints, as he goes to meetings, as he consults on a committee. He’s out with Youngbae and Seunghyun a few nights later and the picture is brought up, Seunghyun a little suggestively, and Jiyong flushes and looks out over the dance floor.

“It was very generous of him to buy it.” He says after a moment, sipping from his glass, and there’s silence for a moment as Youngbae and Seunghyun have a furious, silent conversation over the table.

“Hmm, and very generous of him to pay for all of our drinks tonight as well.” Youngbae says, casually taking a sip of his drink. Jiyong blanches, turning with a slight jerk to look at him, hand going to the base of his throat (delicate).

“He what?” He asks, completely surprised, had not expected…

“Yeah.” Seunghyun says, sitting back a little more comfortably in his seat. “You missed it because you stayed here, but the bartender told us.” He says with a shrug, but he’s amused, Jiyong can see it. Jiyong also feels like there are eyes on the back of his neck and he wonders if…

It’s two more nights before anything happens. Jiyong’s outside a restaurant that Seunghyun had suggested he take his sister to. He’s sent her off with a hug and a smile, and he’s leaning against the wall, unlit cigarette in hand because he’d promised himself he’d quit, had done so well for so long, but his nerves are a slight mess lately and the urge is there. He’s in a white long-sleeve button down, and he’s undone many of the buttons already (the top three or four, the cuffs…) and he’s brushed back his almost too-long hair, still more yellow than blonde but with dark roots now.

He’s almost not surprised when someone comes up beside him, when a hand reaches out and makes him drop the cigarette. “As alluring as I’m sure you’d be with smoke curling around your face,” The almost sinfully attractive voice of the Dragon says, calm and easy. “I prefer you like this.”

Jiyong blinks, turning to look at him with confusion in his eyes, before he drops that and stands up a little straighter. “Are you following _me_ now?” He asks, almost incredulous, and the Dragon just grins, slow and purposeful.

“As opposed to when you were following me?” He responds, and Jiyong has the decency to flush, delicate though it is. “No, you’re just easy to find.” He says after a short moment where Jiyong tries desperately to compose himself. “Especially since I _want_ to find you. You know, Jiyong, I would never have expected that _dating_ someone would get me your attention but I’ll admit that it worked far, far better than I could ever have imagined it would.”

Jiyong is frozen for a moment, confused, and he pulls in a breath before a look of incredulity actually crosses his face. “What do you mean? You had my attention _before_ as well.” He says, and it’s the confusion and the anxiety that have him saying this, not any part of him that really wants to admit that. “I wasn’t well-known enough to be anywhere you might have been, or noticed, but…”

The Dragon is smiling, triumphant. “I apologize, then.” He says, hand coming up to his chest in a show of sincerity that only makes Jiyong aware that he’s wearing a gold watch and a salmon colored jacket with short sleeves (a ‘spring jacket’ his sister would say). “But I think my point still stands, as it’s been another week, and I wonder if I could better grab your attention were I to find another girl.”

Jiyong is lost for just another moment before it clicks into place, before everything neatly lines up and he _gets it_ again. It’s like a weight falling from his shoulders, he doesn’t feel choked and held back anymore (you like _him_ that’s what this is about, more than him being an idol that you admire, more than anything else, even though you don’t really know him).

“If you want my attention, you could try asking for it.” Jiyong says, a little rude, but he feels he has a point.

The Dragon raises an eyebrow, delicate but it’s got more power behind it than any time Jiyong’s ever done anything similar. “What do you think I’ve been doing?” he asks, and Jiyong frowns, a small moue of confusion and unhappiness as he considers and… “You’re not easy to impress, but you’re easy to upset.” He says softly, and Jiyong thinks that’s unfair (though true). “What would it take to have you watch me again, I wonder, to have you follow me, keep up with me…”

Jiyong knows that he should feel embarrassed because now it’s clear that the Dragon knew he’d been watching him and keeping track of him, but all he can really feel is a weird bubble of warmth at the thought that he might want his attention. “Is that all you want?” He asks, because there’s no clear cut answer to how to get him to do that again. He’d been obsessing when he did it, had stopped because it wasn’t healthy for anyone.

“No.” The Dragon says simply, truthful. “But it would be a great start.” He says, then, “Come out tonight. I’m going to a club.”

Jiyong wants to say no, but also wants to say yes; because the Dragon is alluring and sexy and clearly wants his attention but…

“No.” he says, just as simply as the Dragon just had, but the effect is much better as the Dragon’s eyes go a little wide with shock, the grin dimming just a little. “I only give as well as I get.” He says, in explanation, and the Dragon’s grin brightens again, a little sly. “So I’ll see you around, I suppose.” He says, and pushes away from the wall feeling a lot more confident than he truly ever has.

“Oh, I promise that you will, Jiyong.” The Dragon calls after him as he hails a cab.

And honestly, maybe this game is safe, maybe this will lead to something more than the dropped romances and torrid affairs that the Dragon is known for; because Jiyong can’t be sure about the Dragon yet, and maybe this interest is genuine, and maybe it’s because of the chase of it. But either way, they can wait just a little longer.

**Author's Note:**

> Not sorry, though I will admit that this was almost MUCH shorter and it has been agreed that if I'd stopped it where I wanted to originally, everyone would be mad (it would have been worth it, though). It's not quite what I'd had in mind last night when I started writing it, but... I hope you liked it ^^


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